When Dr. Robert L. LaFrankie was preparing in late December to bow out as superintendent of the Bethlehem Area School District, he warned the district might be heading toward budgetary problems and at least implied that the blame lay with the Bethlehem Area School Board.

Last night, some board members responded with their own criticisms of LaFrankie's fiscal decisions. Board President John F. Spirk Sr. said he didn't want any blame placed on himself or other directors for any problems that result.

Acting Superintendent Thomas J. Doluisio began the budget presentation by saying, "I've been on board for six weeks and I've got a lot of bad news financially." He said it was important the board and community understand the administration will face an uphill battle dealing with the district's fiscal future.

Doluisio said the district had a "fund balance" surplus of about $2.8 million in the 1979-80 school year. Over the past five years, that surplus was eliminated and a deficit of about $4.2 million existed by June 30, 1985.

"A plan for eliminating this deficit will need to be devised and implemented as part of the 1986-87 budget," he said. The deficit fund balance, according to Business Administrator A. Wilson Woolf, means the district has an excess of liabilities over assets at the end of a given fiscal year.

Woolf explained that of the $4.2-million deficit, about $2.8 million represents salary and benefit expenses yet to be paid to employees over the summer months before the start of the new school year. Most of the rest of the deficit represents bills yet to be paid.

He said teachers, for example, have the right to request payment over 12 months, rather than 10 months, and more of them are asking for this method of payment. He said about 225 to 230 teachers out of about 700 choose this option.

The district has been spending money faster than it is collecting it, the business administrator said. Doluisio put it another way. "We're not taxing at the level we're spending," he said.

Director James L. Broughal said the district had been using the cash balance as a way of reducing the tax level required each year. "Over the last four or five years, we were putting off the inevitable (higher taxes)?" Spirk asked. He was told that was correct. Director E. Ruth Prosser said, "In all fairness to Wilson, he was trying to tell us that."

Doluisio agreed with Spirk that officials now were not saying it would take a 10-mill tax increase, for example, to rectify the situation. But he said the 1986-87 must attempt to reverse the trend.

On another matter, directors were told that the maintenance-custodial supply budget for this year was overspent by about $61,000 as of Jan. 2. About $200,000 in reserve funds earmarked originally for capital improvements will be transferred to meet "basic building needs."

Dominic Villani, an administrator studying the maintenance situation, said only $150,000 was budgeted for supplies. He called the amount a "mere pittance." Doluisio agreed, "There is no way you can run maintenance with $150,000."

Michael Butryn, director of buildings and grounds, explained to the board that he was told not to ask for more money. "I was directed to streamline the budget," he said. Director Jose E. Morales said, "I don't want the public to think that Mike was some kind of dummy."

Doluisio charged that the district has not been doing preventive maintenance on its buildings. He said Butryn and Villani are doing a completed survey of needs. He said the district has "major rehabilitation" needs, including roof replacements, that must be met or buildings will further deteriorate.

Spirk said he was "thoroughly appalled." He said the district paid LaFrankie and others well. "We should have got something better," he said. Director Joseph J. Risbon said he concurred with Spirk's comments, except that he wanted to limit the criticism to the leader. "The leader controls the budget. That's the leader's job," he said.

Spirk said he has been criticized for spending "a lot of time down at the Ed Center (the district's administrative headquarters)" and declared that "Mr. Woolf has said to me that he was ordered to do things he knew were wrong. . . . If you're ordered to do something in a subordinate position, you better do it."

On a third matter, directors attending last night's workshop were told that the district has exceeded by at least $75,000 the original project cost for installing a new main-frame computer along with peripheral equipment. The business office and internal auditor are evaluating the situation.

Prosser noted that the circumstances seem similar to a cost overrun on a new telephone system that was previously criticized by the board. Spirk asked Louis Molnar, the administrator handling the computer project, to explain the authorization for additional expenditures.

Molnar replied, "I was directed by my superior." Asked if he was referring to LaFrankie, Molnar said, "Yes."